Be BOLD: Clients will pay for demonstrably helpful services

Great businesses throughout the world all have in common a bold expectation of what they will achieve. Make no mistake. Achieving the bold vision of a great business will not happen by chance. As business owners you need to look very seriously at the clients that you work with – clients you like, you can add value to and who can pay your fees.

To be great, you must be challenged to set a bold vision about how your accounting firm offers its services. Importantly, in setting your vision, you can’t be restricted to thinking in terms of the firm’s current capabilities. There are numerous benefits that flow from enlisting the assistance of complementary services of professionals in areas outside your core experience. Your clients have compelling needs which cannot be satisfactorily met solely through traditional accounting services. A firm should position additional services as necessary components in fulfilling its duty of care to clients. This can be expressed to clients along the lines of:

‘We believe strongly in the importance of having these aspects of your financial affairs in order that we will raise them periodically with you as a matter of course’.

Then on an ongoing basis, the expectation should be the set that

‘We will always recommend further services where we genuinely believe they are warranted’

This positioning is very powerful. By saying this sincerely and subsequently delivering quality work which adds value, your clients and future clients will sit up and take notice. Until now you may not have fully considered the range of additional services that will arise as a result of financial services being provided to your clients. Many services can be scheduled at times to suit the accounting firm.

For best outcomes, you should work closely with your financial planner to implement a schedule of marketing events to educate clients as to how you can be of assistance. There may be some services that are referred throughout the year such as insurance reviews. Others will be time-based, such as topping up superannuation contributions at year end. It is incredibly powerful for client, planner and accountant to sit down together annually to review the client’s legal structures, wealth creation, risk management, asset protection and estate planning. With practice, you can become quite accomplished at getting clients to articulate their personal wants and needs and in turn, clients will readily pay for services which are demonstrably helpful.

In 2017 Scott Charlton has issued a challenge to accountants, asking them to step up “be the complete adviser your clients need you to be.” In order to meet the challenge. Scott understands that Accountants need to be bold. They need to have critical conversations with their clients; offer the sort of services clients may not know they need; and have the courage to accept that they may not have the skills or the knowledge they need to meet their clients’ requirement.

The solution lies in a program aptly named, The Bold Accountant. To find our more contactSlipstream Coaching.